Warsaw hosts donor conference for Belarusian opposition

On Wednesday the Polish capital hosts the international donor's conference, "Solidarity with Belarus."

"Belarusian society has confirmed its European aspirations and the readiness to build democracy," said the Polish Foreign Ministry in a statement. "It is now the international community's responsibility to respond to that message."

The aim of the conference is to add financial support for Belarusian democracy activists to recently implemented sanctions on government officials, after the recent crackdown on post-election protesters and the detention of hundreds of democratic opposition members.

Poland has been at the forefront in reacting to the post-election violence in Belarus, unilaterally imposing a travel ban on Belarusian officials and announcing measures to promote democratic ideals.

On January 31, EU foreign ministers said that they would organize an asset-freeze and visa ban on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and over Belarusian 150 officials, while the United States expanded its own list of Belarusian officials subject to travel restrictions and blocked transactions with two subsidiaries of Belarus's largest state-owned petroleum and chemical conglomerate, Belneftekhim.

According to information form the Polish Foreign Ministry, the international donors' conference will be attended by government delegations and representatives of NGOs from EU member states, EU candidate countries, the US, Canada and countries that are members of the EU's Eastern Partnership program, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.